[This is the fourth short in the Order of Polly. To start from the beginning, you can click this! If you want to read more about the series, you can do here!]

“Sip from my drink. Put it down. Look around. Pick up my drink. Swirl it around. Sip it. Push the glass up against my lips. Down it. Put the glass down. Look around. Get up. Look around. Walk out the bar. Ah, that gentle breeze that only train stations have. Look around. People milling about. Just as bored as me. Brilliant. Train is coming soon. Should probably get to it. Sigh.” Lucy grasped her suitcase handle tighter, shut her brain up and proceeded to the train due to depart. Who was she going to sit next to? Anyone exciting? She hoped it would be. Long journeys are never fun unless you have someone interesting to talk to. This is despite the fact she had a book on her and a few TV shows to watch on her media player. Talking was always more fun.

She still enjoyed the stroll to the platform. Her short blonde hair, bold lips and slim body got much attention from passers by. She enjoyed it, the attention. She knew she was attractive and while she never drew attention to this, she did nothing to hide this. She was not brash about it though. She smiled to those looking on. She winked at a few. Small enjoyments, always with a smile. “Still bored.” She got to the platform with a few minutes to spare, enough to suggest that she didn’t mind leaving it a little late, but not late enough to suggest she was unprepared. Walking down the platform further, she picked her carriage, hopped on with ease, parked her luggage in the rack and sat down in the nearest free seat, all with minimal fuss.

The girl Lucy had sat next to looked at her then quickly back down to her lap while enjoying her music. Lucy looked around; coat and bag were tucked in front, her ticket was ready to hand and this girl had her long hair diplomatically obstruct the view of her face. Something to hide? Lucy saw this as a challenge, but before she had a chance to say something, she had already been beaten to it.
“Chocolate?”, the girl asked. She had clearly turned her head, but her hair was still in front obscuring her face.
“Errr, yeah. Thanks, that’d be nice actually. What kind?” Lucy hadn’t realised with how much surprise she had said what she had.
“Milk. Not a big fan of others. Here.” She bent down into her bag, broke off a few blocks from her bar that was still in her bag and handed some to Lucy.
“Thanks.” She chucked them both in her mouth and carried on talking. “Vory gerous offya.” Lucy smiled. The girl possibly looked confused, Lucy still couldn’t tell.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” The girl brushed back her dark hair and finally revealed her face. Lucy observed for a few seconds while still eating. Endearing eyes, soft cheeks, subtle lips. It was an attractive face with a pained expression. She already wanted to know more, smiling after finishing the chocolate.
“Sorry ‘bout that. Very generous of you, I said. Giving chocolate to a complete stranger. Clearly not a Londoner!” She grinned. The other girl smirked.
“Actually I am. You looked like a friendly person though and I thought why not.” She raised her hand to her mouth and coughed. “I’m Polly.” Aha! Lucy was impressed. Someone else who clearly enjoyed talking on journeys as much as she did. Also, she appreciated the kind remark.
“Well I’m Lucy. I don’t have any chocolate to offer you, but know that if I did, I would right about now!”

The two started talking, much to the chagrin of a couple sitting behind them who were trying desperately to get to sleep. Lucy and Polly had much to say and each of them was prepared to listen to the other. Lucy was just interested in what others talked about, but she quickly realised that Polly needed to say a lot of things. Still, ground details were established. They was only a few weeks between them age wise and they were both studying at university. Curiously, the same one. Different courses though. Polly was studying Social Anthropology. Lucy paid attention for a few minutes, having her vague questions about the course answered before going into detail with her Computer Sciences. The same surprise as always. “Rare that you get a girl doing that.” She kept the details fluid as not to bore, but never went into any real depth. Nothing to hide, just wanting to get her part out of the way so she could find out more about Polly. There was something compelling about her.
“You don’t strike me as the kinda person who’d share a lot of their crap. Why are you now?” Facing forward, Lucy took a sip from her bottled whatever, waiting on the response.
“You don’t strike me as the kind of person who needs to worry about any crap. Why does this bother you?” And the pained feeling became all too obvious to Lucy. She stopped drinking and thought for a moment. Polly looked on, feigning interest.
“I get you now. Honey, I dunno what happened to you but you should probably talk to someone about it. A friend, housemate. Someone!” Lucy began waving her arms up in the air, almost hitting another passenger walking down the aisle.
“Yeah, well…”
“It was a boy. Aha!” She cut in, enjoying a moment’s smugness before settling down and listening to the story.

As the train pulled in, they took each other’s numbers (following this up later with the seemingly requisite friending on Facebook) and went their separate ways home. Putting the suitcase down in her room, Lucy mulled over everything Polly had talked about. How could a girl who did things few other people would even consider to do, concerned they be seen as a bit weird, fear that she was boring? A mystery to uncover for another time.

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About thejgman

I am a person and do persony things! Favourite things include Mars bars, video games and, surprisingly, writing. I'm a graduate in Cultural Studies, with a focus towards all things digital and technological.